Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made history on Tuesday with his announcement that Sen. Kamala Harris will be his running mate. Nearly 100 years after the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote (but leaving black women disenfranchised for decades more) a black woman is now in contention to take one of the most powerful seats in the world. It’s a moment that women and girls everywhere should celebrate.
But as we celebrate, we must also commit to disrupt the epic minefield of racial and gender bias that pervades American politics.
Afterall, bias against women, especially black women, is insidious and everywhere. It is an affront to human dignity and to all women. And so, in this historic moment (no matter what side of the political aisle you are on) it’s time that every American take stock of these ugly ideas we hold against women, especially women of color, and upend them.
There are many sexist and racist tropes that consistently reappear, that will most certainly get hurled at Sen. Harris. We already heard some:
1. She is too ambitious – the term meant as a slur not a statement. The idea that women should not be ambitious is tired and broken and must be permanently put to bed. Biden, by picking Harris helped shut this notion down, but it most certainly will reemerge.
2. She is not likeable – gender and racial bias twists all of us into discounting women, no matter how qualified or accomplished if we don’t think they are nice and likeable. This judgement is heaped on visible women leaders in both business and politics. It has followed Sen. Harris with insidious whispers. We expect women to be impossibly warm, kind, motherly, but also hard working, capable and deferential to men. It’s a minefield of impossible standards no woman can meet.
3. We disapprove of her life choices – Sen. Harris does not have biological children (she has two step children) which will certainly be held against her by some, but even when women candidates do have children, we ask incessantly how she balances career, family and marriage. We judge women no matter what family choices they make. It is not relevant, and we should drop this broken trope forever.
4. We don’t like how she looks – Many critique her hair, clothes, shoes endlessly. She has to be attractive but not too pretty, put together but not too perfect. Enough.
5. We call them aggressive – Like ambition, aggression is a gendered double standard, extra loaded for black women who must also battle the label of being “angry. ” Why can she not be angry? Why is she not allowed to be aggressive? This trope must die.
Let me be clear: None of this is about partisan politics. We should have done a better job checking the rampant sexism Republicans Sarah Palin and Carly Fiorina endured too. Judging women candidates on their policy, career, character, readiness and skills are fair game. Judging much else is not.









